The present invention relates to a safety rope for climbing and the manufacturing method therefor.
In modern climbing, working in difficult passages, climbers frequently fall but generally without serious consequences because they are generally held by a safety rope engaged in a piton, or a snap-link type device affixed to the climbing surface, located below them, the other end of the rope obviously being held by a teammate.
In order for such a fall not to be serious, i.e., for the tug on the rope not to be too sudden, it is necessary for the last piton in which the safety rope is engaged not to be too far below the climber. For this reason, climbers generally do not ascend vertically for more than three to four meters without placing a new piton.
As a result, the three or four meters of rope which follow a length of a few centimeters required for fastening it to the climber constitute the section of this rope which undergoes the most stress since it is always a portion of this section which is in contact with the piton in the event of a fall.
This section of rope, subjected to the most stress, therefore wears out faster than the rest of the rope, so that climbers cut it off when it is worn out and hence too fragile, until the rope becomes unusable because it is too short.
These ropes are generally formed of a core of strands surrounded by a braided tubular sheath, with the tightness of the sheath determining the stiffness or flexibility of the rope.
Although it has been found that stiffer ropes, i.e. those with tightly braided sheaths, withstand the abrasive action of the piton far better, in general climbers prefer flexible ropes which are easier to handle, i.e. ropes with loosely braided sheaths.